Terms of Agreement
by Suzie's Q
Summary: Lily and James need to find someone to kiss before midnight. For Jily Secret Santa.


**Lily, happy Christmas from your Jily secret santa! I've been working on this for about three weeks, so I reaaaally hope you like it. It is a little silly, but I couldn't stop writing it, so, here it is! Happy holidays! **

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**Terms of Agreement**

Lily dropped into the seat closest the fire just as someone let off a streamer and a bunch of other fireworks at the other side of the room. Her face darkened, but she ignored it, frowning as she peered over the heads of her fellow Gryffindors, all enjoying themselves. She was glad that she had decided to stay for the holidays, as all the seventh years had agreed, and just as delightful as promised, the New Years party was in full swing.

On the other side of the couch, James looked around at her. "Shouldn't we do something about that or something?" he asked politely, nodding towards the scene. She raised one eyebrow and peered at him curiously, chuckling.

"You okay?" she asked, laying a hand on his forehead. "Are you ill? Do you have amnesia?"

He grinned at her ruefully, batting her hand away. "I'm fine, thank you," he told her, smirking. "They're just irritating me, that's all."

She frowned, poking his shoulder. "That's irritating you? James, you invented that."

"Ah, see, you've encountered the crux of the problem," he told her, shaking his head. He looked over at them and snorted, taking another sip of his drink. "Amateurs."

Lily smiled, falling silent for a few minutes while she sipped her drink, eyeing them. Despite the riotous party going on around her, it seemed oddly quiet inside her head.

"Something wrong?" James prodded.

She shrugged and smiled at him, shaking her head. "Of course not. I should be asking you that. You look awfully glum," she remarked, ducking her head as a few Ink Pellets went flying. "Isn't this 'your scene' or whatever they say?"

He nodded slowly, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. "Ah, I'm not really in the mood," he said, shaking his head. "My head's too full."

She eyed him suspiciously for a few seconds. "Even too full for a party?" she asked. "Speaking of which, where is your loyal band of co-conspirators?"

His eyebrows furrowed together and he glanced around, and then shook his head as he turned back to her. "Dunno. Can't see them anywhere. I expect Sirius is devising a plan to become the centre of attention before midnight."

"He doesn't need a plan for that," she muttered under her breath. He caught her eye with a funny look, and they both shared a nervous chuckle.

"You might have a point there," he allowed. The party around them was only growing wilder, and yet James was growing quieter and quieter.

She let him off for a few minutes, swirling the liquid around in her bottle before heaving a sigh and blinking up at him again. "So what's got your mind so full?" she inquired. "That's not like you," she teased, grinning at him.

He glanced up at her and raised one eyebrow, though a smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Funny, Evans." She just smiled back at him innocently, batting her eyelashes and waiting for him to continue, prompting him with a proper, expectant expression.

He surveyed her for a few seconds, and shook his head, sighing. "Ah, not much. Just . . . You know, the prefect rota, and those twelve missing baubles and the Doxies we found in one of the Christmas trees, and those discipline reports I have to go through, and all those sanctions I have to pass – and since when did prefects start throwing out so many detentions anyway? – and we just, we got so much holiday homework this year, I mean, are they trying to make us sweat blood or something, and now we have to go home, and I really don't like going home for Christmas because my parents really aren't up to much anymore and I just – I don't have a spare minute to think."

She was staring at him with wide, astonished eyes by the time he'd finished, the bottle nearly slipping out of his hands. "I've never heard you talk so much," she remarked, blinking at him curiously. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he replied gruffly, raking his fingers through his hair. "Just a little . . . erm . . ."

"Stressed," she supplied, nodding understandingly. His expression was one of confusion, and Lily chuckled, clapping his shoulder. "It's alright. Happens to the best of us. I've never seen you get stressed before," she told him gleefully.

"That's because I don't get stressed," he retorted, scowling at her playfully.

"Apparently, you do."

They were quiet for a minute, watching the festivities with curious but not keen expressions, before James spoke again. "I heard about you. And . . . Drew. Midnight, all that."

She was quiet for a minute – for some reason that she didn't have the time to work out, her stomach twisted uncomfortably, and she felt like someone had punched her in the gut. "Oh."

He nodded, looking over at her and grinning. "Yeah. Marlene mentioned . . ."

"Yeah," she croaked, as he trailed off into silence. "Marlene mentioned to me too."

"Oh, Drew didn't do that himself?"

She laughed, shaking her head. "No. He asked Marlene to ask me if I'd . . . Yeah."

He scrutinized her for a few seconds, and then let out a chortle. "Where has romance gone these days, hm?"

"You're telling me," Lily replied, frowning. She fidgeted with her sleeve, uncomfortable to be talking about this with him.

"Ah, it's just the way it is," James added, and it seemed like he was speaking more to himself than he was to Lily. "And Drew's nice."

She glanced over to where the boy in question was sitting with his friends, amongst the other sixth years. "Oh, I know that. I just – I don't really talk to him."

"Doesn't that make him paramount material for a snog?"

She scowled playfully, hitting his shoulder. "No," she grumbled, rolling her eyes. She looked away, her cheeks flaming, but after a few seconds, her eyes found him again. "Marlene thinks I should just go for it," she mumbled, letting the sentence hang there, and after a few seconds she began to doubt that James had even heard her.

But eventually, he nodded slowly. "Sounds like Marlene."

"She also . . ." She knew she was prodding now, and she didn't really know what she was looking for. Perhaps she was just hoping for a reaction of any kind. "She mentioned that I'm not the only one she's arranging a snog for."

He guffawed with laughter, sitting back and downing the end of his drink. "Oh, Merlin, did she say that to you? What is she trying to do?" he exclaimed, still sniggering.

"Well, she just brought it up in passing," Lily said quickly, her hand jumping to her hair, rather similar to the way that James' did. "She just sort of threw it in there. Don't think she's taking you too seriously." She was dreadfully uncomfortable talking about this with him, but a little relieved to see that he seemed to share in her discomfort.

He snorted. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," he told her wryly, shaking his head. "She's been ragging on me all night to do something about Emma."

"So why don't you?" she asked curiously, taking another drink from the mountainous pile that James and Sirius had someone managed to smuggle in from Hogsmeade.

He just shook his head, his lip twitching. "Bit clingy."

She rolled her eyes. "I bet you say that about all the girls," she said quietly, nudging her elbow off his.

"Well, I'm right about this one. You know, I heard Drew talking about you last week. I think he likes you."

"If he really liked me, he'd talk to me," she pointed out, irritation flaring. He stared into space for a second, and then grinned absently, seemingly amused.

"Yeah . . . Yeah, maybe."

They were both silent for a while, caught up in their own thoughts. At least, Lily was deeply immersed in her current situation that her so-called best friend had landed her in simply because she'd felt like playing matchmaker and Lily was a prime target. She thought James was mulling over the same thing, until he spoke again.

"So what are you going to do?" he asked her, surveying the scene before the two of them. Lily glanced over at the sixth year again, shrugging.

"Dunno yet," she mumbled, wrinkling her nose. "What do you think?"

He blinked, and Lily saw his eyes flicker towards the group of sixth years before he ducked his head, scratching his nose and clearing his throat. "What – what do I think about – er, what?" he muttered, staring fixedly at the coffee table.

She was too comfortable to move, but they were already shoulder to shoulder, so she gave him a little nudge. "What?"

"Well, what do you want to do?" he asked, shrugging and frowning slightly. "Do whatever you want."

"I'm just asking your opinion," she said lightly, sticking her bottom lip out.

"Well." He sighed heavily, shaking his head and looking over at the sixth years again. "Do you want to?" he asked her, wrinkling his nose up. Lily had a faint idea that he didn't want to know the answer.

She shrugged, her cheeks going furiously red. "I – well, I – It's not that I –" she stammered, until he put her out of her misery.

"Look, that's the only thing that really matters," he said thoughtfully, smiling at her and tapping his bottle off hers. "So . . . I don't know, he's an alright bloke. So I don't see why not, if you – you know, if that's what you want . . ."

She was quiet for a minute, pondering over that and pursing her lips. "Well, what have I got to lose?" she muttered, eyeing him for his reaction.

He nodded, glancing up at her and pointing his wand at his bottle so that it refilled. "Also a good point," he said hoarsely, coughing and thumping his chest, shaking his head.

"Well, what about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you."

He was quiet for just a minute, his face frozen. He opened his mouth, looking for words, and then shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. Haven't decided yet."

He looked in the other way hurriedly, his hand jumping to his hair. If Lily hadn't known better, she would have sworn she saw his cheeks go red.

She smiled weakly, elbowing him playfully. "What have you got to lose, right?" she said, grinning at him.

"That," he muttered, running a hand over his chin. "Is a very good question."

"She's nice," she said thoughtfully, wrinkling her nose and tilting her head to the side. He didn't answer for a second, too preoccupied with the party.

"Mmmm. Yeah. That's true. Besides, according to our dear friend, Marlene, everyone's got to find someone to kiss before midnight. Probably before quarter to, knowing Marlene. You know, just to make sure there's no panic."

"Who's she kissing then?" Lily grumbled. He pointed across the room wordlessly, where the girl in question was firmly wrapped around a boy that Lily knew to see, but his name escaped her, so tightly it was hard for Lily to make out whose limbs were whose.

"What have we got to lose?" she said again, wrinkling her nose. He shrugged.

"Well, I think you should do it."

Lily blanched, staring at him for a few seconds. "What – really?"

He nodded solemnly, lifting the bottle to his eye to peer inside. If he was trying to distract himself, Lily wasn't sure, but it was confusing. "Yeah. Do it. I dare you."

"Are you telling me what to do?" she joked, poking his side. "Potter."

"Hey, look, just because you're too scared to do anything unless someone dares you, that's not really my problem," James told her coolly, laughing. "I think it'd be good for you."

"Oh, do you, now?" she said quickly, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes at him. "Since when are you the authority on what's good for me?"

"Oh, believe me, I'm not," he snorted, holding his hands up in surrender and spraying drips of butterbeer everywhere. He was drinking _butterbeer? _"I just – you know, like you said, he's a good bloke, and it might be . . . healthy. Education. Spiritual. An experience. Take your pick."

She didn't say anything – she couldn't think of anything to say, she was so stunned – so she settled for raising one eyebrow, sceptically. And then his mouth tugged up at the corner into a smirk, and he pointed his bottle at her threateningly.

"I bet you I can kiss Emma before you'll kiss Drew."

"What kind of bet is that?" she demanded, eyeing him curiously. She scrunched her nose up, blinking at him.

He stared back at her resolutely. "Doesn't matter. You hate losing."

"And so do you."

"Well, this should be interesting then, shouldn't it?"

She huffed, pondering over that. "Well, we might as well have a little fun. It _is _a party."

"I don't need a snog to have fun at a party, you know," he pointed out, a little too quickly. "I just happen to find your antics amusing."

"Well, now I'm starting to think you really do have amnesia," she grinned, sighing and slamming her bottle down. "Alright. You're on. What do I get when I win?"

He raised one eyebrow. "Twenty Galleons."

She laughed heartily, folding her arms. "Like taking candy from a big baby with an oversized head."

"Oi! There's no need to insult me. It's just a friendly bet," he said calmly, palms to her. "So we have a deal? Nice, friendly bet?"

He was smiling up at her, and Lily paused, her arms still folded tightly across her chest in an oddly protective way. There was something tugging at her heart, a little nagging feeling. She brushed it off, and grinned at him, holding out her hand.

"Deal."

He took her hand and shook it, his grin widening, if that was even possible. She took a step back from him, and though she meant to survey the scene, she was still gazing at him curiously. He looked back at her, unperturbed, and even a little amused.

"Problem, Evans?"

"Wh – no," she forced out, tearing her eyes away from him with more difficulty than she would have cared to admit. "Do you want me to give you a head start?"

He shook his head, doing his best to fight back his laughter. She grabbed his drink, took a swig and thrust it back in his hands before steeling her nerves, and marched over to the sixth years. She realized that she'd probably look a little aggressive doing that, so she slowed her pace and fixed her hair over her shoulder just as she reached the sixth years.

They all came to an abrupt stop when they saw her, which made Lily blush, but she smiled pleasantly. "Hi," she said cheerfully. "Erm. Drew, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk."

He looked surprised, that much was obvious, and his cheeks went a little pink. He nodded, smiling at her. She smiled back at him, a little timidly, feeling her confidence completely diminish. She glanced over her shoulder again as she climbed through the portrait hole. She could still see the shock of black hair – he hadn't moved.

Wait.

Why hadn't he moved?

She paused, just tumbling out of the portrait hole. Drew caught her arm, looking a little nervous. "You okay?"

"Fine," she breathed, still staring over her shoulder long after the Fat Lady had swung shut. "I just . . ."

He didn't want to kiss Emma. He wasn't even going to try. The tugging feeling at her heart was even stronger now, like it was trying to tug her back into the room, where she belonged.

She gulped, turning to Drew. "I – I'm sorry, I can't – I have to . . . Yeah." She dropped the lousy, half-hearted apology and blurted out the password to the Fat Lady, throwing herself back into the common room before he would do something that she'd later regret and beat herself up over.

She forced her way back over to where her seat was still vacant, stumbling over her own feet when she got there.

"That was quick," James remarked, raising one eyebrow, and Lily was sure she caught the look of surprise on his face.

She rolled her eyes fondly as she sat down, closer to him before (just about as close as she could get without being on his lap). "Yes, well . . ."

"That bad, was it?" he grinned, raising one eyebrow at her. Despite that, he was staring at her curiously, and his smile didn't really meet his eyes.

"I – Well, you see . . ."

"Did you do it?" he asked, gazing at her and setting his drink down on the table, looking more and more confused.

She shook her head. "No. I couldn't." He blinked back at her, apparently deep in thought, and didn't say anything. She smiled timidly, gulping audibly, and summoned all her courage.

"Have I ever told you you're a bloody idiot?" she mumbled, poking his chest.

"Well, this conversation just took an interesting turn," he remarked, grinning back at her lopsidedly. She leaned in a little more, grinning, his eyes nearly swallowing her whole.

"Well, it just so happens I'm kind of an idiot too," she mumbled, nudging his nose with hers before pressing a soft, lingering kiss to his mouth, and then another, and then another, his hand finally coming to rest on her waist.

"I think you owe me twenty Galleons, Evans," he murmured, sounding a little dazed.

She laughed, shaking her head and beaming at him. "Or I could do this all night," she mumbled, shrugging one shoulder, her heart soaring so fast and high she got light-headed when he leaned forward to kiss her again.

"Don't think that was the terms we agreed to," he muttered. "Cough up, Evans."

Her arms slid around his neck without her pausing to think about what she was doing, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, he looked rather pleased with the new development, and the sight sent electric shocks coursing through her. "Well," she mumbled, her mouth on his again. "Twenty Galleons might just be worth it."


End file.
